Study of the Characteristics of Social Media Users (Case Study: Users in Denpasar City)

Along with the current rapid development of information technology, internet users have also increased with the various services provided. Various types of internet services include web browsers, social media, and others. Lifestyle changes caused by an increase in information technology services have led to an increase in the need for interaction and communication through social media, so that in line with this, there has also been an increase in the development of the use of social media as a means of communicating directly between users.

According to Kominfo in November 2013, the number of internet users in Indonesia reached 63 million, with 95% of internet users using the internet to access social networks. The most accessed social networking sites are Facebook and Twitter. Indonesia is ranked as the 4th largest Facebook user after USA, Brazil and India.

Social media overview in January 2019 is based on monthly active users of the most active social media platforms (source https://websindo.com/indonesia-digital-2019-media-social/), the number of active social media users is 150 million users. This represents 56% of the total 268.2 million population in Indonesia, with 130 million mobile-based users (smartphones and tablets), constituting 48% of the total population of Indonesia.

The most active social media platform, based on a survey of internet users who reported using each platform it was reported that Youtube was ranked the highest, which was used by 88% of users, followed by Whatsapp (83%), Facebook (81%), Instagram (80%), Line (59%), Twitter (52%), FB Messenger (47%), and other media. In terms of age, according to an article on Kompas.com (04/02/2019) the millennial generation dominates the use of social media. Social media users in Indonesia are mostly in the age range 18-34 years, and based on gender, are dominated by male users in that age group. Time spent using social media was 3 hours 26 minutes for various purposes, including work (37%), individual businesses (24%). On average, one internet user in Indonesia has at least 11 accounts on various social media. The conditions mentioned above indicate the large role of social media in meeting the needs of life in socializing in the era of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 today.

This article will examine the socio-demographic characteristics of social media users by taking a case study of social media users in Denpasar City. Respondents in this study are individuals who have criteria as social media users, who are currently using one/several social media platforms. Sampling was done by purposive sampling, with a sample size of 250 respondents.

An overview of the socio-demographic characteristics of social media users based on social media used based on the results of data analysis, it was found that the average age of social media users who were respondents in this study was 29.32 years, gender was dominated by female users, and dominated by users who were not married. . The education level of respondents is dominated by users with high school and university education levels. Most of the respondents' occupation is student and is followed by the type of work as PNS/TNI/Polri.

Description of research respondent data based on the type of social media that is being/has been used in the past month, it was found that the respondents on average used 5 (4.96) types of social media. The social media platform that is most frequently used today in the past month was dominated by WhatsApp, which was used by 76.8 percent of respondents, with an average of 6.48 years using the social media platform. The time spent using/accessing social media is 6.25 hours per day for various purposes. The main objective of respondents in accessing social media, it was found that as many as 40.8 percent were used as a means of obtaining and disseminating information. The parties who are often invited to relate in using social media, found that most of the respondents had relationships with friends as much as 50.8 percent and followed by relationships with colleagues with 25.6 percent. The topics most frequently accessed from social media, it was found that the majority of respondents access music/entertainment as much as 38.4 percent, and Knowledge is accessed by 28.4 percent.

The results showed that age had a negative correlation with the average number of social media used in the last month and the average length of access/duration of accessing social media in one day. There is a positive correlation between the age variable and the length of time using social media (currently the most frequently used social media) and the length of time using social media for the first time. The average number of social media used in the last month has a positive correlation with the variable Average length of access/duration of accessing social media in one day. The variable length of time using social media (from the most frequently used social media today) is positively correlated with the length of time using social media (first used social media).

The results of the cross tabulation analysis between the variables of the type of social media that are most often used today and the type of work of the respondents, it is found that the WhatsApp social media is dominated by users with the type of work of students and civil servants/military/police. Instagram and Youtube are dominated by student users. The results of the Chi-Square test show that there is a relationship between the most frequently used social media variables and the respondent's job type variable.

The results of the cross tabulation analysis between the variables of the type of social media that are most often used today and the respondent's education level variable indicate that WhatsApp users are dominated by users with high school and college education levels, as well as only Instagram and YouTube. The Chi-Square test results show that there is a relationship between the social media variable that is most often used and the respondent's education level variable. Cross tabulation analysis between the Topic variables most frequently accessed and the type of social media variable that is most frequently used today, it is found that music/ entertainment topics are most dominantly accessed by respondents who use WhatsApp the most, as well as news topics. The Chi-Square test results show that there is a relationship between the Topic variable that is most frequently accessed and the social media type variable that is most frequently used today.